I Love The Earth, But Just As A Friend.

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To those listening live or to our patrons, welcome back. For those listening weekly, welcome to Shift To Reason radio the Brainstorm production that focuses on science outreach and education. We’ll try our hand at teaching you a little bit about common skeptical topics, logical fallacies, errors in reasoning, as well as a bit about some religious apologetics. This episode is brought to you by audible.com, sign up for your free trial membership and free audiobook at audibletrial.com/brainstorm.

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So…..The Poppy..I’m not wearing one. Now before anyone jumps on me for disrespecting our veterans of not having any sense of moral obligation to those who gave their lives for my freedom. Don’t waste your breathe telling me I’m ungrateful or unpatriotic.Just Stop.I have a huge sense of respect and enormous gratitude for those who went overseas and gave their lives in the front lines and trenches fighting fascism. Especially those that were drafted. In fact, because I am an atheist, I likely have a much deeper sense of gratitude to those that died. As I see it, without an afterlife to go on to, or a new life to be resurected into, these people gave up their very existence. And because of their sacrifice I get to sit here in this nice comfortable studio and tell you why I wont be wearing the felt flower that symbolizes their death. My gratitude is deep, and it is very strong……and it is mine. It’s my gratitude, not the gratitude of a nation. Sure the nation is gratefull, but these people died for my personal freedoms. For my rights as an individual, not as a subserviant drone that places a red symbol on his lappel so that he can display his alegience to the cause that they died for, at the hands of other people that were fighting for thier cause.

My gratitude, however is different for those that have enlisted since WW2. For them I have a gratitude that runs parralel to the feelings I have for the guy that’s running the snow plough on the highway in the winter, or the woman that is going into burning houses to bring people out, or the person that is sitting in the back of the ambulance and administering life saving emergency medical services. These people are professionals, they took these roles as a livelyhood. And they are all working to help others. Just….most of them aren’t trained to murder other people.The main reason.What absolutely stops me from putting on that pin..The poppy, to me, now also indicates support for all actions and decisions of my country’s military. I didn’t agree with joining the fights in Kuwait, in Desert storms, I was against our involvememnt in the actions in the middle east after 9/11. I completely loathe any military action that kills civilians either in a wholesale manner or intentionally targeted manner. The way the military complex seems to protect those at the top of the chain of command at all cost is very similar in my mind to the systemic problem with the police protecting their own. The way military culture treats women and anyone that isn’t a straight male soldier.But yes.

The people that were gathered up and thrown into either world war experienced things that I can not fathom.Yes I think we should revere and honour those that died serving this country.But come on. Lest we forget? Really? At the rate this world is going we will never see peace for long enough to forget the horrors of war. We will continue to grind people to dust under the heels of governments bickering over fake invisible lines and power strugles over who gets to hold power.So go ahead. Glorify your military. Pin that poppy to the lappel of your coat to honour the dead that gave everything for you, and walk right past that homeless vet, and give him nothing.

Angela's Poem

I tried to find a manJust like my heavenly fatherSomeone who was absentAnd left no evidence, only stories

I looked for someoneWho teased me with true loveBut only gave me heartacheMaybe I didn’t love him enough

I looked for he who was on highOn his pedestalThe one who expected meTo kneel for him

Where was the one whoBlessed othersBut left me in the dark?

I looked.And it turns outHe’s a misogynist assholeWho gives cancer to kidsIf he exists at all

·The basic idea of classical chiropractic is that "subluxations" are the cause of most medical problems.

·a "subluxation" is a misalignment of the spine that allegedly interferes with nerve signals from the brain.

·there is no scientific evidence for spinal subluxations and none have ever been observed by medical practitioners

·On May 25, 2010, The General Chiropractic Council (GCC), a UK-wide statutory body with regulatory powers, issued the following statement:

The chiropractic vertebral subluxation complex is an historical concept but it remains a theoretical model. It is not supported by any clinical research evidence that would allow claims to be made that it is the cause of disease or health concerns.

·propounded in 1895 by D. D. Palmer (1845-1913), a grocer and magnetic healer from Davenport, Iowa.

·Palmer was a vitalist who considered intelligent energy to be conveying information among various body part

·Palmer called this vital energy "innate intelligence" and claimed it was connected to a Universal Intelligence

·Palmer claimed that he cured a deaf man, Harvey Lillard, who was a janitor by trade, by manipulating his spine.

·most support for chiropractic comes from testimonials of people who claim to have been helped by manipulation

·Most of these testimonials have come from people who believe their back pain was alleviated by spinal manipulation. Whether the manipulation is any more effective than a back rub, hot creams, exercise, or time, is questionable.

·The clinical evidence indicates that a treatment of something like ibuprofen and exercise is just as effective as chiropractic for relieving back pain (Ernst and Singh 2008)

·there is no scientific evidence that correcting these so-called misalignments by manipulation has anything to do with relief from pain.

·Chiropractic is touted as safer than drugs or surgery.

·That of course isn’t true and neck manipulation has often been linked to strokes

·Ultimately it would seem that chiropractic is a practice based on pseudoscience which there is good evidence showing that it does no good and can in fact be quite harmful.

·Combine that with the more extreme chiropractors who try to administer chiropractic adjustment in liu of real treatment for real diseases and it seems that chiropractic is a harmful practice

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Will commented on some of our patreon postsFirst he said that he started listening to the Secular Barbershop after our interview with Uber

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Hopefully more people will start commenting on the Patreon posts, which I have started uploading directly to Patreon as audio files which means I have to drop the bitrate quite a lot. If the sound quality ever gets too bad on those full length ad free episodes I may start splitting them in two and uploading them separately. You’ll still get the whole thing, including music, just in two files.

We got an email from Stephanie,

Subject: Love your show!

Message: Hi everyone,

Just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I appreciate this show. I work in an office setting and knowing a new episode of The Brainstorm will be in my iTunes makes Monday/Tuesday mornings suck so much less. Although my company is public and does not endorse any religion or political viewpoints, being an atheist in my office is exhausting. Half of my coworkers have large whiteboards with Bible verses jutting out into the aisle from their cubicles and large crosses on top of cabinets line my view every time I stand up. Prayer meetings are organized when someone is having a hard time, they stopped inviting me after I didn't show up to any of them. I know I could contact HR but I think it would be more trouble than it would be worth and if others were told not to read their bible out loud during lunch hour - the office atheist would be to blame. My reprieve comes from putting headphones on and listening to podcasts such as yours and microwaving my baby leftovers (the Asian ones taste the best - like built in teriyaki sauce) Since listening to your show I have changed my mind on many things I was previously sure about - GMOs being the biggest example. Thank you for tackling issues of misinformation like this and citing the sources. The more outlets for people to access actual science the better. I'll stop rambling now, but just know your work is appreciated!

Stephanie

P.S. Gumby - you're an asshole. I love it. Never stop being you!

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Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on November 25th when we’re joined by Dan Arel, writer of the Danthroplogy blog on Patheos and author of Parenting without God and The Secular Activist.